AWS Compete Battlecard

Co
mpete

This battlecard provides summary information and guidance on how to compete with VMware in the cloud space. Please see the AWS Compete portal for additional information

vsf and backup.

Redshift: Fully managed large scale data warehouse service in the cloud.
Businesses can analyze large-size data sets using the same SQL-based tools
and business intelligence (BI) apps in use today.

Amazon EMR (Elastic MapReduce): A web service that enables businesses,

researchers, data analysts, and developers to process large amounts of data.
Amazon EMR uses Hadoop to distribute data and processing across a resizable
cluster of EC2 instances.
AWS Elastic Beanstalk: Service for deploying and scaling web apps and
services developed with popular programming languages such as Java, .NET,
PHP, Node.js, Python, and Ruby.

Amazon VPC (Virtual Private Cloud): A way for customers to define a

virtual network topology that closely resembles a traditional vs that enables
customers to provision cloud-based desktops on multiple devices.

Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS): RDS lets businesses set up,
operate, and scale a MySQL, Oracle, SQL Server, or PostgreSQL database in the
cloud.

Anticipated changes and developments

Continue to offer new instance types and services and to reduce prices

Promote its own hybrid vision by connecting to on-premises

Globally expand services and datacenters

Re-orient its sales approach to prioritize accounts by verticals, segments, &

geography

Explore entering the Analytics as a Service space more strongly

For internal Microsoft use only. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied.

AWS strengths
1.Leading mind share and market share in cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS), with extremely high
penetration within startups and early adopters, making them the incumbent to own the public cloud space.
2.Broadest platform of IaaS capabilities and APIs.
3.Rapid platform development with hundreds of new features each year.
4.Pricing flexibility for customers.
5.Large-scale capacity and efficient use leading to continuous price cuts; perception of lowest cost provider.
6.Broad ecosystem of ISVs and service catalog options.
7.Global platform reach with a single, consistent user interface.
8.Turnkey application deployment through AWS Marketplace.

AWS positioning and messaging

Cloud

Compute

Storage

AWS offers low cost, highly

innovative flexible and scalable
cloud solutions including
databases, analytic tools,
networking and app services, and
management resources with no
upfront investment or long-term
commitment. An expanding
network of managed service
provider partners ensure
customers are optimizing
solutions.

AWS provides a variety of cloudbased computing services

including a wide selection of
compute instances, which can
scale up and down automatically
to meet the needs of your
application, a managed load
balancing service, and fullymanaged desktops in the cloud.

AWS provides low-cost data

storage with high durability and
availability. Pay-as-you-go pricing
with no commitment means
greater flexibility and agility. High
security is available at no extra
cost and you get storage choices
for backup, archiving, and disaster
recovery, as well as block, file, and
object storage.

Competitor claims
AWS says

Microsoft says

Amazon is less expensive

than Microsoft

Microsoft matches AWS pricing for all commodity public

cloud offerings.

Azure packs more compute capacity than AWS in the

instances we offer, so Azure beats AWS on price-toperformance.

Reserved EC2 usage above contracted amount is

charged at the On-Demand rate.

AWS Compete Battlecard

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mpete

This battlecard provides summary information and guidance on how to compete with VMware in the cloud space. P

AWS says

Microsoft says

Amazon is more innovative

than Microsoft.

Amazon is leading the way

to an all cloud future

Build conversation around Microsofts modern

Azure releases new services
faster than
AWSServer
(most 2012 R2, System
platform:
Windows
AWS updates are enhancements).
Center 2012 R2, and Microsoft Azure.

Azure is 56% faster in write

speedand
than
AWS winning
(source:sales tactics and
Identify
select
Nasuni, The State of Cloud
Storage
align
them2013
with Industry
solving key customer pains.
Report).
Approach customers around specific
Azure's average availability
response
timewe
is 25%
scenarios
where
have a significant
faster than S3 (source: competitive advantage, such as Microsoft
workloads.
Amazon labels private clouds as archaic; pitches
Position
Microsoft as a more enterpriseinaccurately defined hybrid
platform.
trusted advisor than AWS.
Microsoft offers one consistent platform for
infrastructure, apps, and
data,comparison:
whether in the
Price
support offerings
datacenter, a hosting service provider,
and/or
the Azure
Amazon
Microsoft public cloud.
Enterprise
Pro-Direct

What to sell key Microsoft solution

components

S
t
A
i
f
i

Azure

Premie

Unlimited Phone/Chat/Email Support 24x7

Unlimited phone/e-mail
support 24x7

Unlimited phone
support 24x7

Microsoft Azure

Dedicated Support
Escalation Resource
(reactive only)

Managed Support
Escalation

Dedicated Suppo
Delivery Resourc

Windows Server 2012 R2 (including

Hyper-V), & System Center 2012 R2

Automated Proactive
Checks

Automated Proactive
Checks

Automated Proa
Checks

Architecture Assistance/
Support Service

Self Service Guidance

Proactive Service
Custom Advisory
Assigned Technic

> 1 hour response time

> 1 hour respon

$1000/month

$3k+/month

Strategies in customer profile

Win

Surround

Deploy best-in-class
storage, backup, &
disaster recovery
solution in private and
public cloud with one
provider and contract.
For new cloud initiatives,
focus on the hybrid
platform to easily extend
existing tools,
infrastructure, & skills to
the cloud.

Surround the customer

environment and
improve datacenter
service agility with
System Center. Position
System Center as a onestop shop for all
datacenter and cloud
management needs.

Extend
Extend datacenter
use
15 minutetoresponse
from
Azure services for SQL
Server, SharePoint, and
Tier 2 & 3$15,000+/month
apps
workloads.

How
to sell
Extend the
development
and testing environment
1. Position
to use on-demand
public Microsoft
cloud resources.

as a provider of
end-to-end cloud offerings across the
cloud stack. Shape the discussion as
development and deployment
oriented, which AWS lacks, and focus
on the overall business value.

Key actions for success

What to do
2.

c
a

Understand customers pains, challenges,

goals, & major initiatives.

Highlight the integration between our

networking solutions & the flexibility
in working IaaS and platform as a
service (PaaS) environments.

AWS Compete Battlecard

Co
mpete
3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

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Emphasize Microsofts commitment to

the cloud and its vision in providing a
continuum of solutions that enable
private clouds, public clouds, and a
hybrid clouds.
Outline Microsoft Azure flexibility over
AWS to move back and forth between
on-premises & off-premises cloud
offerings.
Highlight that Microsoft Azure is
covered under existing EAs in few
countries at a discounted price for
yearly commitment, while declaring
that negotiating an EA with AWS is
challenging.
Highlight that Microsoft is a trusted
technology vendor with decades of
experience in delivering IT solutions.
Showcase Microsoft Azure cloud
solutions as more enterprise ready,
highlighting the product integration
capabilities, strong SLAs, and bundled
support options.

Sales objection handling

AWS offers hybrid
solutions too

infrastructure at a low cost

for data storage & disaster
recovery

With StorSimple, Microsoft offers the b

scalable, cost-effective storage solutio

AWS EC2 running Windows

Server is a secure and
dependable way for
customers to deploy
SharePoint quickly and cost
effectively

Microsoft workloads are not tested on

buggy and unreliable. Any error during
entire configuration.
With Microsoft Azure, customers get fi
(infrastructure and software) for a Sha

RDS is a scalable relational

cloud database that provides
cost-efficient and resizable
capacity

Microsoft customers can easily build m

SQL Server and Azure SQL Database in
is not available on AWS. Microsoft Azu
effective, since customers do not pay

Key feature comparison

Capability
Compute

Virtual Machines, Worker role, Web role

w/elevated privileges, Web role

Hosting (lightweight
web apps)

Web Sites

Database

SQL Database (formerly SQL Azure)

Big Data

HDInsight

Blob storage

Microsoft Azure Blobs

Table storage

Microsoft Azure Tables

Storage Drives

Microsoft Azure Drives

App Deployment

Automatically handled

Storage Archive

Expected H1 FY15

Hybrid Storage

StorSimple

Messaging

Microsoft Azure Service Bus, Queues

Networking

Virtual Network, Connect, Traffic Manager,

Azure DNS

Caching
Service
Azure
Managed
AWS offers point solutions and tools
instead
of consistent
services
and & In-Memory Cache
policies across on-premises andContent
public cloud
assets. AWS
doesnt Q3
support
Delivery
Expected
FY14 (See OneList)
private cloud or any on-premises IT assets. Microsoft provides the best
Management
Portal, Power Shell, System
hybrid IT support through the Cloud
OS and a common set
of technologies
Management
Center
2012
and capabilities across on-premises, Microsoft Azure, and
service
provider
clouds.
Diagnostics & Service, Management APIs,
Monitoring
SCOM price
Pack with the
Microsoft customers get the best value, combining the lowest

flexibility of a hybrid environment

and an enterprise-ready
platform.
Azure
Authentication
&
Windows
Live,
Accounts and Subscription,
is unique in the sense that customers
can easily migrateFederation
apps as-is
from Azure Active Directory
Authorization
Future,
on-premises to Azure using IaaS virtual machines and later add more PaaS
Development Tools
Toolkit for Eclipse and Visual Studio
services to the application.
Supported Libraries
AWS offers developers a fast,
.NET, PHP, Java, node.js, Python
EC2 runs on EBS, which is limited
toSDKs
one availability zone, so customers
and
inexpensive way to set up
have to buy S3 at an additionalIndustry
cost for Specific
reliability and durability.
Azure Media Services, Mobile Services
test environments in the
Azure blob storage includes geo-replication at no additional cost. EBS
cloud with tools such as
Desktop
requires manual effort to replicate. With Microsoft, customers
N/A can also use
Elastic Beanstalk and Cloud
familiar development tools suchVirtualization
as Visual Studio.
Formation
AWS is the most flexible and
cheapest available solution

AWS S3 offers a highlyscalable, reliable, durable,

and low-latency virtual

Microsoft Azures Local Redundancy Storage is more durable and available

than S3. Azure charges only for the incremental differences when
snapshotting a blob whereas S3 charges for an entire snapshot each time.

AWS Compete Battlecard

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mpete

This battlecard provides summary information and guidance on how to compete with VMware in the cloud space. P

Evidence to emphasize
Customer evidence
External case studies:

Jidari: Egyptian start-up

Jidari switches its web apps to the
Microsoft Azure cloud system, giving
its social networks users a faster
response than was previously the case
with AWS.
Getit Infomedia: Getit Infomedia
chose to migrate 25 workloads from
on-premises deployments to Microsoft
Azure because AWS could not offer the
same range of components across
IaaS, PaaS and software as a service
(SaaS).
Sangkuriang International: In need
of a cloud solution that could work

with a wide mix of technologies,

Sangkuriang chose Microsoft Azure
over AWS because the company
considered it an easier cloud platform
for achieving its goals.
Wellero: In choosing Microsoft Azure
over AWS, Wellero was able to bring
its new offering to market twice as
fast, save upwards of US$275,000 in
its first year of business, and boost its
scalability and corporate agility.
Callaway Golf: Callaway Golf chose
Microsoft Azure over AWS and Google,
reducing IT costs by US$324,000
annually and giving Callaway
unprecedented flexibility and
scalability to respond to the needs of
its global business.

AWS Compete Battlecard

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mpete

This battlecard provides summary information and guidance on how to compete with VMware in the cloud space. P

Key sites

Resources

AWS Web Insights Tool

AWS-Azure Heatmap

Book a Datacenter Tour

AWS Compete Yammer Group

Key content

Microsoft Azure

StorSimple

Windows Server

Hybrid Devices

On-premises Devices

http://AWS

Cloud OS Conversations,

Enable Modern Business

Applications

Transform the Datacenter

Azure Sales Scenarios

Azure Roadmap

//STBCompete: AWS Compete BOM

and Web
Insights Tool

//Azuresales: Azure sales scenarios

and BOM

AWS Compete group on Yammer

Shikha Chetal for questions

STB Account Grid: Provides

licensing, program, pipeline, usage,
and compete information for
account targeting purposes. AWS
presence data is included

Azure-AWS WW Heatmap: Shows

AWS presence and Azure EA and
Direct usage data to better target
whitespace. Inspired by the work
done in the US Sub.

AWS
weakness

Description

What it means to customers

Lack of
private
cloud
support &
on-premises
IT assets

Other than limited 3rd party integration, AWS

lacks private cloud support or on-premises IT
assets. AWS recently announced partnership
with a startup called Eucalyptus to provide a
private cloud environment compatible with
AWS APIs. In reality, AWS is just providing the
Eucalyptus license to their API and some
technical support.

AWS and Eucalyptus are not working jo

to innovate the private cloud offering o
build new technology that offers
compatibility of broader AWS services w
Eucalyptus. Eucalyptus does not run on
Windows or support Hyper-V.

Customer
lock-in

AWS locks customers into a proprietary AMI

format, making it difficult to move virtual
machines on-premises.

Amazon doesnt have any of their own

development tools, instead relying on 3
party offerings. If customers choose to
to AWS, they are in effect locking
themselves into a proprietary ecosyste

Enterprise

The majority of AWS customers are startups

Architectural visibility and language

AWS Compete Battlecard

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mpete

This battlecard provides summary information and guidance on how to compete with VMware in the cloud space. P

novices

and developers. AWS is just starting to focus

on the enterprise and most of their
experience is at the business unit level.

frustrates traditional enterprise IT buye

Transformation to the Cloud can be risk
AWS is still learning how to sell to
enterprises. Their enterprise sales team
are not available in every state in the U

Poor
support for
Microsoft
workloads

Because AWS uses a proprietary format,

Microsoft workloads are not fully supported.

A proprietary format means that Micros

workloads are not tested on AWS and
receive best-effort support. Customers
wont get 1st rate support on issues on
AWS.

No Oracle
support

Oracle doesnt support AWS virtualization

engine and assumes no
reliability/responsibility for data stored in S3.

What happens to customers who have

existing licenses to run Oracle software
With AWS, they would require additiona
licenses from other vendors. Customer
wont get 1st rate support on issues on
Oracle on AWS

No PaaS
solution

Amazon lacks a comparable PaaS solution to

complement its IaaS solution; RDS for SQL
Server lacks features such as data-sync,
multi-AZ deployment for SQL Server, and read
replica.

AWS is primarily an IaaS service that

depends on partners to fulfill PaaS
scenarios. This limits the flexibility of
customers and necessitates them to
continue to do the same as before (man
the infrastructure).

No unified
AWS lacks unified enterprise management
manageme between on-premises and the AWS cloud.
nt solution Partner offerings are limited.

Amazon is relying on a variety of 3rd-pa

partners to provide a singular view of o
premises and cloud deployments. AWS
its own console, but it doesnt include
integration with other services and
specifically with private cloud
implementations.

Rigid
pricing

AWS billing is not as flexible as it is by the

hour.

The effective rate you pay is dependen

your utilization. When making a
reservation, you need to specify exact
instance type, instance size, and
datacenter location. Your usage has to
match these exact dimensions to get th
reserved instance pricing. Once reserve
the rate is locked for 1-3 years, despite
price drops on on-demand instances.

Lack of
SLAs

AWS has carefully worded guarantees and a

lack of available SLAs for some services.

AWS EC2 provides SLAs for multiple

instances only.